https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/02/survey-claims-41-percent-of-uk-people-believe-they-pay-too-much-for-broadband.html?no_cache=1
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b) The race to the bottom of the larger players constantly undercutting one another, and always doing "introductory period" deals which rise after an introductory term. This means their entire client-bases having normalised their price expectations to the introductory level, then feel ripped off at the "normal" price.
(cont)
c) The continual need for large retail ISP customers to ring up their provider every year, threaten to leave, get handled by the retentions team, get a better offer, haggle, negotiate. All perceived relationship between "price paid" and "cost to actually supply" goes out of the window psychologically, at that point. And the unfortunate bore of needing to tread through this rigmarole actively dissatisfies customers.
(ends)
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This was posted on LinkedIn. I commented as follows (following toot) :
@bloor Confused on definition of "over paying"...
1. "Paying more than they agreed" - answer simple, recover over paid amount via card, bank, court. Sorted.
2. "Paying what they agreed", well, that is not over paying... Maybe "paying more than they could pay via some other company" - answer, switch to other company, OFCOM and OTS have done a lot to make that easy. bear in mind, what you get from a cheaper provider may not be the same.
Is there another option?
Is either of these a problem?
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@bloor Confused on definition of "over paying"...
1. "Paying more than they agreed" - answer simple, recover over paid amount via card, bank, court. Sorted.
2. "Paying what they agreed", well, that is not over paying... Maybe "paying more than they could pay via some other company" - answer, switch to other company, OFCOM and OTS have done a lot to make that easy. bear in mind, what you get from a cheaper provider may not be the same.
Is there another option?
Is either of these a problem?
@revk I think the vast majority of people would interpret it as “paying more than they feel they should be” or maybe “paying more than they could be paying with another provider”
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@revk I think the vast majority of people would interpret it as “paying more than they feel they should be” or maybe “paying more than they could be paying with another provider”
@bloor Indeed, so, well, change to "other provider". Simple.
And then, as we see all too often, change back to a "good provider" that costs a little more, but is worth it.
But OFCOM have done a lot to make it a choice - choose who and so how much you pay, and what you get. Simples.
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@bloor Indeed, so, well, change to "other provider". Simple.
And then, as we see all too often, change back to a "good provider" that costs a little more, but is worth it.
But OFCOM have done a lot to make it a choice - choose who and so how much you pay, and what you get. Simples.
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@bloor Confused on definition of "over paying"...
1. "Paying more than they agreed" - answer simple, recover over paid amount via card, bank, court. Sorted.
2. "Paying what they agreed", well, that is not over paying... Maybe "paying more than they could pay via some other company" - answer, switch to other company, OFCOM and OTS have done a lot to make that easy. bear in mind, what you get from a cheaper provider may not be the same.
Is there another option?
Is either of these a problem?
-
@bloor Indeed, so, well, change to "other provider". Simple.
And then, as we see all too often, change back to a "good provider" that costs a little more, but is worth it.
But OFCOM have done a lot to make it a choice - choose who and so how much you pay, and what you get. Simples.
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@penguin42 @bloor So play the game and say you are leaving.
I hate that practice, but people are paying what they AGREED to pay. Simple. Anything else is already very well covered by law.
So AGREE to pay what you feel is worth paying.
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@bloor Indeed, so, well, change to "other provider". Simple.
And then, as we see all too often, change back to a "good provider" that costs a little more, but is worth it.
But OFCOM have done a lot to make it a choice - choose who and so how much you pay, and what you get. Simples.
@revk consumers are not rational actors, though. This is where “social economics” smashes into just “economics”.
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I feel we pay too much for Virgin, that's partially because a new customer can pay less.
But, there's no viable alternative where I am so the old "just switch suppliers every year" doesn't work for us and as I work from home I can't risk playing the cancel and re-sign up a week later game either.
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@penguin42 @bloor So play the game and say you are leaving.
I hate that practice, but people are paying what they AGREED to pay. Simple. Anything else is already very well covered by law.
So AGREE to pay what you feel is worth paying.
@revk @penguin42 it feels like you are having an argument against a survey question/set of answers.
The question was asked. Answers were received and published. You cannot apply logic to this, really.
But also, I’d bet there are some things you pay more for than you need to, but just cannot be bothered to shop around. How would you answer a quiz? You’d say “I overpay” and implicitly in brackets would be (“and I live with it”)
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@revk @penguin42 it feels like you are having an argument against a survey question/set of answers.
The question was asked. Answers were received and published. You cannot apply logic to this, really.
But also, I’d bet there are some things you pay more for than you need to, but just cannot be bothered to shop around. How would you answer a quiz? You’d say “I overpay” and implicitly in brackets would be (“and I live with it”)
@bloor @penguin42 Sorry, it is more over terminology.
Ask "Are you paying more than you choose and agreed to pay?"
If yes, fix that under normal UK law, sorted.
Ask "Could you have found a provider that charges less and use them?"
If yes, fix that by, well, use that provider.
Ask "are you overpaying?", that does not really address either of these or provide any useful way to fix/progress.
Maybe "do you think broadband should be cheaper?". That may make sense to ask.
It was bad question!
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c) The continual need for large retail ISP customers to ring up their provider every year, threaten to leave, get handled by the retentions team, get a better offer, haggle, negotiate. All perceived relationship between "price paid" and "cost to actually supply" goes out of the window psychologically, at that point. And the unfortunate bore of needing to tread through this rigmarole actively dissatisfies customers.
(ends)
@bloor That latter paragraph summarises my comments to Virgin when I left them:
"After being a loyal customer for 20+ years, I'm at a point where the performative nature of contract negotiations outweighs the effort of doing so. Just offer best price to everyone and be done with it."
I felt better for getting it off my chest but it'll change nothing.
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@bloor That latter paragraph summarises my comments to Virgin when I left them:
"After being a loyal customer for 20+ years, I'm at a point where the performative nature of contract negotiations outweighs the effort of doing so. Just offer best price to everyone and be done with it."
I felt better for getting it off my chest but it'll change nothing.
@greem it’s a real shame.
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@bloor @penguin42 Sorry, it is more over terminology.
Ask "Are you paying more than you choose and agreed to pay?"
If yes, fix that under normal UK law, sorted.
Ask "Could you have found a provider that charges less and use them?"
If yes, fix that by, well, use that provider.
Ask "are you overpaying?", that does not really address either of these or provide any useful way to fix/progress.
Maybe "do you think broadband should be cheaper?". That may make sense to ask.
It was bad question!
@bloor @penguin42 Basically my issue is over the word
"overpaying"
To me it implies some wrong doing. When "paying what you agreed to pay" does not, and even "choosing a provider that charges more than some other provider I could have chosen" does not.
It really is a wording thing.
And I fully agree, asking "could internet access be cheaper?" or even "should". A very valid questions.
I think it will be over time, and/or, it will be better for same price.
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@greem it’s a real shame.
I had NTL/VM for over 10 years in my old town, then moved from Reading to Ipswich - they didn't even want the business due to a blocked duct and not having the same level of kit/skilled engineers as BT/Openreach.
I've currently got a business grade VDSL which costs a bit more than consumer (especially as its still got a telephone line on it) - although CItyFibre do have the duct to my house I'm wary to change as I can see the same issue happening with snags/delays - all the ISPs cherry pick the easy provides and struggle the moment they hit any kind of snag and there seems to be shortage of installation engineers for Openreach *and* the alt-nets, with high burnout/staff turnover...
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@greem it’s a real shame.
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@bloor @penguin42 Basically my issue is over the word
"overpaying"
To me it implies some wrong doing. When "paying what you agreed to pay" does not, and even "choosing a provider that charges more than some other provider I could have chosen" does not.
It really is a wording thing.
And I fully agree, asking "could internet access be cheaper?" or even "should". A very valid questions.
I think it will be over time, and/or, it will be better for same price.
@bloor @penguin42 Reminds me a lot of door to door salesmen saying
"you have been paying too much for electricity" - he may have said "overpaying" even!
To which my reply was simple - "great send me a refund. bye..."
When in fact I was paying what was agreed (well, not, in fact, but that got me a refund eventually, but not the point, and not something the salesman knew or meant in any way).
"overpaying" is a very misleading word.
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@bloor @penguin42 Reminds me a lot of door to door salesmen saying
"you have been paying too much for electricity" - he may have said "overpaying" even!
To which my reply was simple - "great send me a refund. bye..."
When in fact I was paying what was agreed (well, not, in fact, but that got me a refund eventually, but not the point, and not something the salesman knew or meant in any way).
"overpaying" is a very misleading word.
@bloor @penguin42 One reason it bugs me, and I know Alex knows this, is we, as an ISP are often seen as "a bit more expensive".
I sort of understand why, but also, I know that, for some customer requirements, that is not even the case - a fixed IP with no filtering is often a more expensive business service on many CPs, not us.
I am always very keen to ensure we are 100% clear on what we offer and for how much.
I would hope none of our customers feel they are "overpaying".
